


IGHL News: SF Novas and Interplanetary Integration

by ad_astra_03



Series: The Inter-Galactic Hockey League [5]
Category: Hockey - Fandom, Star Trek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Hockey, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-08
Updated: 2012-12-08
Packaged: 2017-11-20 15:46:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/587016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ad_astra_03/pseuds/ad_astra_03
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The San Francisco Novas were the first IGHL team to put both Terran and non-Terran players on the ice together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	IGHL News: SF Novas and Interplanetary Integration

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to wistful_joy for continued cheerleading and enthusiasm.

**Interplanetary Integration in the IGHL, Part I: San Francisco Novas**

The San Francisco Novas are one of the original teams of the IGHL—in fact, when the San Francisco organization was formed, the league was still called the Trans-Continental Hockey League, and incorporated teams from the various countries of Earth.  Now, however, the Novas have become known for being the first in another area: interplanetary integration. 

Before the Novas made their radical move toward integration, the IGHL already included teams from cities on planets across the galaxies, including the Caprica Raptors and the now-defunct Alderaan Rogues.  These courageous teams were pioneers of the “intergalactic” aspect of the Intergalactic Hockey League, and their continuing struggles to be given equal footing in a league still dominated by Terran teams and players should not be underplayed. 

Nonetheless, before the Novas attempted it, the IGHL had not included a team that employed both Terran and non-Terran players as teammates and even, in some cases, linemates.  The idea of sending a Terran team on a road trip to another planet (or hosting a non-Terran team on Earth) did not seem insurmountable to the league at the time.  Integrated teams, however, still seemed far off.  Conventional wisdom held that the systems used by Terran and non-Terran teams were too different: they could be tested against each other in competitions on the ice, but for a non-Terran player to attempt to learn a Terran hockey system was unthinkable. 

But in San Francisco, they were thinking about it.  A unique opportunity arose when Novas’ head coach Christopher Pike visited the planet Vulcan (one of the Vega planets in the Milky Way galaxy) to watch the Vulcan minor-league playoffs.  He was impressed with the play of forward Spock (note: Vulcans use only one name to identify themselves, as distinguished from Terrans, who generally use two or three), and immediately upon his return to San Francisco began to lobby hard for his organization to send an agent to meet with Spock. 

In addition to meeting with agents from the Novas, the young forward was approached by the premier Vulcan team, the Councillors.  In the end, Spock elected to sign with San Francisco, becoming the first non-Terran to play for an Earth team.  “I think he liked the idea of being a part of something bigger, something great,” said Coach Pike.  Playing for the Novas offered Spock the chance to have a career that could be watched across the galaxies (as opposed to the Councillors, who are only really well-known within the Vega system).  Spock might also have been attracted by the idea of becoming part of the first integrated team in the IGHL. 

In a press conference the Novas’ front office held shortly after signing Spock, Coach Pike spoke candidly about his reasoning.  “It is the opinion of this organization that Spock has the potential to become a Top Six forward for our team.  Playing for Vulcan in the Vega minors this year, he has distinguished himself as a dominant presence on the ice and we are looking forward eagerly to what he will achieve here in San Francisco.”

Immediately, Terran critics began voicing their concerns.  They implied that Spock would be unable to keep up with his linemates, that he played a style of hockey incompatible with the norms of the IGHL, that the Novas were making a terrible mistake that could cost them for years to come.  Reading between the lines, this rhetoric reveals itself to be unabashedly xenist and, really, quite myopic, especially considering that non-Terran teams had been competing in the IGHL for four seasons at that time.  Not to mention the fact that the Alderaan Rogues had made it to the final round of the playoffs the year before. 

News outlets on Spock’s home planet were unilaterally against him from the moment he turned down an offer to play for the Vulcan Councillors.  The fact that he did so only to accept a contract with a Terran team bumped him up to the title, roughly translated, of “traitor to his civilization and a failure of Vulcan society.” 

Spock himself has kept silent about the revolutionary aspect of his entry into the IGHL and, later, his ascendance to the captaincy in the first integrated team in the league.  His only statement about the matter, made in the locker room after the first game he played wearing the C, was: “I came to San Francisco to compete, and that is what I have done.” 

A reporter from the _San Francisco Chronicle_ tried to follow up, asking, “Yes, but why Earth?  Why the Novas?”  Captain Spock just raised an eyebrow and said dryly, “San Francisco was the best option presented to me at the time.  To choose otherwise would have been highly illogical.”

_Stay tuned for Part II of this series about interplanetary integration in the IGHL—an interview with Atlantis Puddlejumper Teyla Emmagan._

_Catch the San Francisco Novas in their opening game of the season, held at the new United Federation Center in the Presidio, against the New York Supersoldiers.  They play in two weeks; tickets are still available._


End file.
